


Bound By Pain, Bound By Love

by irond0rkness



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Stephen Strange, Hurt Tony, Ice Cream, Idiots in Love, Ironstrange Big Bang, Kissing, M/M, Magic, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Stephen Strange, Pining, Self-Hatred, Stephen Strange Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-10-10 16:55:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20531384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irond0rkness/pseuds/irond0rkness
Summary: Stephen is hopelessly in love with Tony Stark.Tony knows that Stephen Strange has a crush on him and might have some feelings for the sorcerer as well.A mishap binds the two together, making them feel each other's pain. Before, they could hide their injuries from the other, letting them enjoy the oblivion. Now a single papercut or bumping into something would reflect on the other, either inconveniencing or almost crippling the other with pain.





	Bound By Pain, Bound By Love

**Author's Note:**

> Big thanks to my artist, untitledtea and my beta Grace! I couldn't have done it without you!
> 
> This is my submitted work to the IronStrange Big Bang, organized by the wonderful IronStrange Haven.

The Iron Man armor had been shot down in battle, trapping it and the man inside under a collapsed building. Tony was trying to find a way out that wouldn't make the structure collapse into the pocket of air he was currently in, possibly breaching the armor and making it harder to get out without serious injuries.

As he found a point he could blast through to escape safely, he felt an odd shockwave pass through him. It wasn't physical, so nothing moved and he didn't even stumble back, but he felt it in his bones.

Tony was about to carry on, yet suddenly he felt a strange pain in his side. His HUD didn’t show that anything had hurt him, and the armor wasn’t breached. It was dull enough to ignore it and he continued, only to feel similar pain in his hands, dull yet uncomfortable and confusing.

Even though he had gotten injuries from working in the workshop, he had been careful with his hands, so that he didn’t injure them to the point of not being able to work.

He ignored the sensations, blasted himself out and flew into the sky back into the battle.

The Avengers had gotten closer to finishing the battle than they had been before Tony had gotten trapped. He swooped in to attack and shoved Strange out of the way of a villainous sorcerer that would have managed to strike the man if he hadn't interfered.

He hit the ground along with Stephen and grunted when he, too, felt the impact. If that's what he felt, a man encased in armor, it must have knocked the wind out of the sorcerer.

Before the other wizard could react and strike once more, he aimed a missile towards the higher part of the ground where he stood, not bothering to get up to prevent losing precious time during which an attack could be sent towards the fallen heroes.

By the time the missile detonated and a screech coupled with the thuds of a body hitting the ground rang through the air, both the Iron Man and Dr. Strange were ready to continue the battle. Stephen bound the offender with his magic, leaving the Avengers to deal with the creatures he had summoned.

Strange opened a portal and left through it with the villain.

Tony, who had briefly opened his faceplate, felt a cold gust of air escape the portal into the July heat the battle took place in. It granted relief for his face, sweaty from the exercise fighting in the suit provided him.

When the portal closed, his short break was over and he continued fighting. He was unaware of the slightly colder temperature he experienced, regardless of the fact that the temperature inside the suit hadn't changed at all.

After the fight had been finished, he flew back into the Avengers Compound, the dull ache in his side not faltering whatsoever, no matter how many times he asked FRIDAY to scan him for injuries or anything out of the ordinary.

He stepped out of the suit and immediately zipped open the flight suit and lifted the fabric to see for himself.

To his surprise, all he saw was clear, unmarred skin.

Tony pressed down on it to see if it would make the ache lessen, yet when he did so, all he felt was the touch of his fingers and that strange ache that did nothing other than stay there, unbothered by anything he did. He tried to pinch himself there and as it shouldn't have been a surprise to him, pain bloomed on the site, sharp and fast, unlike what he was experiencing at the moment.

Hoping it would take his mind off of the situation, he took off the rest of his battle clothes and made his way to the bathroom in the lab to take a warm shower. The water sloshed down his body, relieving his muscles, sore from the battle. It didn't do much for his side or fingers though, even if the steam and the warmth distracted him from the pain and the odd cold that had seeped into his core right after Strange had left with the sorcerer.

He toweled himself off and blow dried his hair before taking the clothes he had put into one of the cabinets. He always loved the feeling of worn, soft fabric on his skin, so different from the sleek and much thicker bulletproof flight suit material that had previously covered his body.

It wasn't exactly bad or harmful to pilot the suit with ordinary clothes - in fact, he did that quite often. But in a battle situation, the mobility and extra protection the outfit granted him made him a more efficient fighter.

Tony was about to get coffee when he realized that the pain in his side had disappeared completely. His hand flew to the site instinctively yet nothing happened. It was if he had imagined the whole thing.

It was slightly freaking him out, but he let it be. Bodies tend to do all kinds of weird stuff and today wasn't the first time random things happened to his without any explanation.

His fingertips still tingled when he reached for the coffee pot and poured himself a cup of it. The lifegiving liquid filled it to the rim which required him to carefully slurp it from the top instead of tipping the cup and letting the drink flow into his mouth.

The third cup of coffee was always special, even if the first and the second ones were highly important as well, along with the fourth and so on. Those were all lies though, he didn't care much about how many cups he downed in a day and which one it was. This probably wasn’t even his third cup, as he didn't remember if he had poured milk or coffee to his cereal.

He could hear the figurative police sirens coming for him for eating his cereal in such a vile way, but he didn't care. He was revolutionizing breakfast by making it more efficient and less time-consuming.

Lost in thoughts, he didn't notice the toolbox on the ground in his path and tripped on it. The hot coffee spilled out of the cup onto him, making him cry out from shock. The cup fell to the floor and broke into many tiny pieces, some of them embedding into his skin after he fell onto the ground.

He could feel the coffee burning his stomach under his wet shirt and he could both see and feel the sharp sting of the porcelain in his flesh, the bigger pieces even sticking out a little.

Cursing his clumsiness, the engineer began to remove the pieces.

________________________________

In the New York Sanctum, Doctor Strange gasped in pain.

At first, he thought it was the wound in his side acting up after he had sealed it a short while ago, yet the sharp pricks in his upper arm shortly after that destroyed that theory immediately.

It seems that the powerful blast of magic the villainous sorcerer had created hadn't been just a party trick. It was complicated magic, meant to harm the ones the spell was cast onto, yet leave no marks on the body. The mind, however, would be at the mercy of this cruel creation.

Stephen didn't know what he was dealing with, he hadn't had the time to study all the depths of magic just yet and that spell belonged to one of those depths, unknown and dangerous.

It could be random pain, striking him whenever it pleased, or it could be an intricate web of actions leading to him feeling like someone had burned him through his clothes. Dull enough not to inconvenience too much, yet noticeable enough to alarm and annoy.

He made his way to the library to try and find anything that would shed light onto the situation, trying to ignore the throbbing feeling in his arm, coupled with what felt like the sting of disinfectant.

This was feeling less and less like a random, phantom pain and resembled someone else's experiences mirrored onto him, not unlike a magical bond. If that was true, he had to find the one he was bonded to and keep an eye on them.

He grabbed a book from the bookshelf and flipped through it, trying to find anything that could explain anything to him. When he found nothing, he carried on, the persistent ache fading into the background as he went through book after book, leaving some of them open on one of the tables for further reading on the subject.

While opening one of the books, he got a papercut. It was nothing bad, a mere sting on his already constantly aching hands but annoying nevertheless. He stuck it to his mouth instinctively, but the damage had been done.

Miles away, Tony Stark felt it as well - slight pain and cooling, his finger untouched. The slight ache hadn't disappeared and had faded into the background, the new sting bringing it to the surface once again.

Tony didn't know what was going on, his body had been giving him random pains from the odd ripple he felt when he was still under the debris. All of it felt wrong, those feelings weren't his own.

He shivered as he suddenly felt cold envelop him, the kind that digs deep into the bones and refuses to leave no matter what.

"FRIDAY, could you please raise the temperature a little bit? I'm feeling a bit chilly," he said, shivering from the unseen and nonexistent cold.

He could feel the temperature rising and the warmth, yet there was still frost under his skin, cooling off whatever relief the heat brought him. He took a blanket and wrapped it around himself, wincing when it dragged on his arm on the place where the pieces from the fallen cup had embedded themselves into his skin.

It felt like the cold of Siberia and the heat of the desert at once, he was sweating and shivering and there was nothing he could do. This was all inside his head, there was no logical explanation to what was happening, yet it happened and it inconvenienced him.

___________

Getting a papercut made him realize he needed a break from all the reading and research he had been doing for the past couple of hours, papers and ancient books scattered around him, reminding him of the aftermath of a hurricane.

He hadn't found anything concrete yet, as he had only skimmed through the books, leaving other parts for further reading. There were a lot of books in the New York sanctum, filled to the brim with magical knowledge, yet he knew where there were more - in Kamar-Taj.

He could have simply used a sling ring to get into the library straight away without having to bother with walking whatsoever, yet he wanted to clear his mind from the stuffy papers for a while. So he portalled to a place where he has had to venture to quite rarely - the outside of Kamar-Taj.

Stephen stepped through the portal into the light of the first shy rays of the sun in Kathmandu, and was overtaken by the cold. He had made an incredibly dumb mistake as it had been the dead of night mere hours ago and there was nothing warming the city, leaving it in the mercy of the night.

He shivered but the cold wasn't as bad as before, in fact, he was feeling much warmer now, his robes protecting him from the elements. They felt like a warm blanket around him and he was about to wrap his arms around him to gather more of the heat when the sting in his arm alerted him once more.

The cold hadn't disappeared, it was merely overtaken by the warmth he felt. Stephen walked closer to the temple, the sun shining in his face as he walked. The thoughts of the spell still swirled around in his mind but he wasn't concentrated on them completely. He enjoyed the whole action of walking, it helped clear his mind a bit.

The shadow of Kamar-Taj landed on him, keeping the sun's warmth from reaching him. The breeze of the wind made him shiver, yet he refused to use the sling ring before he got to the gates.

Once in front of them, he didn't bother opening and going through them. Instead, he portalled straight into the library, alerting one of the sorcerers reading there.

Stephen didn't mind his presence and went straight for the bookshelf he thought could have a book that could help explain the situation to him. His fingers flitted over the backs of the old, worn books until he found a potential match and grabbed it from the dusty wooden shelf. The Sorcerer Supreme flipped through the book, the yellow pages dancing under his long fingers until he found the place that he needed and began to read.

The hours passed along with the pile of books, yet there was nothing concrete in them, just vague descriptions and spells that had some attributes of his experience yet differed completely in other parts of it.

Stephen truly hoped the case was magical, not of scientific origin. He knew magic and while he could always learn more of it, he felt more at home with it. He would rather leave the science to people like Tony, who could spin the technology at his fingertips into something so beautiful and mystical that it was indistinguishable from magic.

Stephen enjoyed the company of the genius and if he was honest with himself, he liked the snarky conversations they regularly had. To an outsider, their interactions might look aggressive and dismissive, but to them, it was harmless and mutually relaxing to be with someone so similar.

He admired Tony's heroic nature and his ability to always want to do good, to be ready to save everyone he cared about, even if they didn't always care about him. He was a good person, one of the best he had seen, yet his caring nature was hidden beneath an impenetrable armor.

Stephen smiled a bit when he remembered how the man had saved him today, unwavering and sure, appearing out of nowhere to shove him out of the way of danger. He was a friend to him on and off the battlefield.

As if knowing he was thinking about Tony, the cloak wrapped a bit tighter around him. Stephen didn't know if his cloak was protective of him and trying to defend the sorcerer or approving of the mechanic.

Tired from both the battle and the dull research, he slammed shut the book he was reading, alerting a couple of apprentices that had arrived a short while ago to study inside the library. The Sorcerer Supreme stood up from his seat and began to slot each book he had taken into their places on the bookshelf. After he was done, he made a portal and disappeared from the room and Kamar-Taj as a whole and walked back into the New York sanctum a moment later.

He went over the situation once more in his head. The spell seemed to be some sort of a bond between two people, yet there was no telling if the effect were mutual unless he found the person and questioned them as well. He only hoped it was temporary and he didn't have to find the one that cast the spell and convince them to lift it from him and the unlucky person who had been caught in the crossfire. It could have been anyone, from the nearest person on the battlefield to someone on the other side of the world.

Stephen yawned, as it had been a long day. He hadn't let himself rest after the fight and instead delved into studying magic without even giving himself some time to clean up and eat some food. It was dark outside, yet he grabbed his wallet and a jacket to cover his robes and made his way to the closest fast food place.

After buying burgers and fries from a cashier who looked just as tired as he felt, he sat at the nearest table, noting the emptiness of the place. There was only a group of college kids huddled together in a corner, chatting between each other, their voices low enough for Stephen not to catch what they were saying. He bit into the burger and enjoyed the greasy taste of it. Now he knew why Tony always got fast food after a battle.

He felt marginally better after finishing his meal and began to walk back to the Sanctum, his feet no longer dragging on the ground from sheer exhaustion yet they weren't the giddy hopping of a seven-year-old on a sugar high either.

Stephen had always loved the nighttime, he enjoyed seeing the neon signs illuminating the dark night with their colors, the lack of people on the usually busy streets and the lack of usual noise. People were still awake, but nobody seemed to be in much of a hurry like they were during the day.

He opened the doors to his home, walked up to the bedroom and flopped onto his bed as soon as he had taken the shoes and the jacket off. That turned out to be a bad decision as landing on the Eye of Agamotto felt like being stabbed by it and he quickly flipped over on the bed, clutching his chest.

Now more awake from the pain, he got off the bed and changed into something more appropriate for bed, cuddled into the sheets and fell asleep peacefully.

____________________

Tony was in his workshop, designing a new targeting system for his armor when suddenly, he felt a sharp pain on his chest, not unlike the dull pain he had experienced over the course of the day. His hand flew onto his chest, finding nothing there, as the arc reactor that had sat in his chest for years had been removed a while ago.

He took a deep breath through his nose and released it when he felt the pain receding. It wasn't the intensity of the ache that had alarmed him, it was the placement and the suddenness of it.

"FRIDAY, do a scan of me," he spoke, voice wavering slightly.

"There seems to be no abnormalities, boss," her smooth voice sounded from the ceiling, "May I ask, what are you trying to find?"

Trying not to worry his AI, he assured, "Nothing, don't worry about it, sweetie. Dad's all fine and dandy."

He carried on with his inventions, switching to other things as soon as the targeting system blueprints had been written up. He didn't feel like making it today as his fingers ached slightly and he didn't want to irritate them anymore. Tony swiped away the holograms of the old project and started from a clean slate, ready to be filled with his creations.

The genius had been feeling a bit off since the strange chest pain, slightly warmer than he would like to be. It wasn't annoying enough to lower the temperatures in the lab though so he carried on, the thoughts prodding at the issue fading into the background.

Whenever he felt like he was losing his steam, he gulped some cold coffee and carried on, the bags under his eyes looking more prevalent under the harsh lights of the workshop as he worked on, not noticing night slowly shift into day, the rays of the sun not reaching through the covered windows of his working space.

Feeling a bit hungry, the man grabbed one of his green smoothies and a peanut butter jelly sandwich and glanced at the clock on the wall as he was putting away the jars. After his eyes focused on it, he cursed. It was nearing 6 am, therefore it was slightly more than two hours before his first meeting of the day. Sometimes it was easy for him to forget that he wasn't just an inventor, a mechanic and occasionally, Iron Man. He was expected to be a businessman on top of all that.

Tony told his AI to save and close all of his current project files, uncover the windows, turn off the lights and give him his schedule for the day. Immediately, he regretted letting sunlight into the room after he had told her to turn off the lights. Natural light flooded the room and made him squint for a moment, his eyes not appreciating the stark difference between the lamps in the lab and the sun outside.

He turned around and got into the elevator to escape the annoyance that was the sun and closed his eyes for a moment to appreciate the lack of it in the enclosed space before having to open them once more as soon as it reached his floor.

Tony yawned, the effects of the night he had spent away finally catching up with him. He had no time to sleep, so he went into his bathroom and stared into the mirror to look at the damage.

There wasn't anything unusual, the deep bags stayed under his eyes just as they had been there for quite some time already. He noted that he could use a shave as he ran a hand over his pricklier-than-usual chin. There was no way he was going to show up at the meeting with his trademark goatee surrounded by his five o'clock shadow.

He tore his gaze away from the mirror and instead got into the shower. For a moment, he let the warm water flow down his body, relaxing the stiff muscles before he grabbed his shower gel and shampoo and cleaned himself after working in the workshop for hours.

After he was done, he took a towel, dried off and wrapped it around his waist. Tony got in front of the mirror once again, washed his face, dried it and got his electric razor. Turning it on, he began to shape his unruly facial hair into the perfect and geometrical masterpiece that usually adorned his face.

When he was done, he smiled at the mirror, appreciative of the goatee for a moment before frowning at his purple under eyes and getting some makeup to cover them up. There was no need for him to look like a panda bear when surrounded by stuffy businessmen.

He often wore makeup to meetings and galas, either to hide the bags under his eyes as he was about to do today or bruises from battles after he had become a superhero. It was tedious, yet he had gotten used to that and by now it was part of his routine.

Before he did that though, he grabbed his hair gel to prevent the messy curls that would occur as soon as his hair dried fully. For him, the slick and professional look was a must when going outside as he would look more like a soft teddy bear than the ruthless shark he preferred to be.

Tony walked into his closet and chose his outfit for the day. As he wasn't feeling like wearing anything overly flashy and colorful today, he went for a charcoal suit with a deep blue tie and a crisp white shirt. He dropped the towel around his waist and got dressed, pulling on the trousers, buttoning the shirt and expertly tying the tie around his neck. Finally, he shrugged on the jacket and took a last look at the mirror.

He looked good, he knew he did. He was exactly what people thought of when they thought of Tony Stark, no longer the CEO of Stark Industries yet still someone who played a part in the company.

Tony left his room in search of breakfast more substantial than a smoothie, having woken up a bit from the sleepy haze he had been in due to lack of rest. His sleeping habits weren't all that great, but at least he wasn't staying up for longer than two days unless there was an emergency and he needed to work on that without stopping. Still, he was going to take a short nap as soon as he got a break, he wasn't a teen anymore and could feel the exhaustion settling in his bones.

When he arrived in the kitchen, he poured himself some cereal and waited a bit for the coffee to get done so he could add it to the food. Since Tony had to be healthy at the age he was at, he snatched a couple of fruits from a bowl and bit into an apple. Once the coffee was done, he drained some of it into a mug and the rest into his bowl of cereal, enjoying breakfast many would call cursed due to the heinous liquid he added to it.

He munched on the slightly bitter cereal without a care in the world. The only ones who knew that he ate cereal like that were Rhodey, Pepper, Happy and Peter. The kid expressed utmost disgust when he saw what he was eating and threatened to throw it out and expose the way he ate the food to the world.

Once he was done, he gulped down his coffee from the cup and left the dishes for the cleaning bots. He was about to finish off the peach which he had taken after he ate the apple, but when he reached the final piece of fruit, he bit into his cheek. Tony winced and grabbed the side of his face instinctively. It wasn't anything bad, yet terribly uncomfortable and unexpected as most accidental mouth bites tend to be.

After throwing away the peach core, he went into the garage, started his car and drove to the building in which the meeting was going to take place.

______________

Stephen was shocked out of his sleepy haze when he felt a jolt in his cheek. It was there for barely any time yet it surprised him out of his sleep and ruined the dreams he had been having. It didn't matter that he forgot those dreams as soon as he woke, it was the thought that counted.

He wiped his eyes in an attempt to wake up a bit and then in a single swoop he pushed the blanket off of his body, leaving him cold and longing for the warmth. He rubbed his arms until hobbling over to his clothes, too sleep-dazed to think about using magic to find his clothes or put them on. Finally, he found his discarded jacket and pants and shoved them on, content when he was no longer feeling like his limbs were about to freeze off.

In a moment, he remembered the situation, the cursed bond he now shared with someone. He needed to find out who the person was before either of them caused any more accidental harm to the other. He should have done it yesterday, but he had been enveloped in trying to understand it rather than preventing potential problems.

The spell might have been unfamiliar to him, but he could still sense the faint string of magic reaching out from him, leading to whoever shared his unlucky fate now.

Since whoever was on the other side could be hundreds of miles away from him, he didn't bother following it by walking in the direction of the other half. Instead, he clutched it with two hands and let the magic connect to his mind.

Images of the vague location flashed in his mind, not from the other person's perspective, instead, they were made from his own memories, which they were. If the one bound to him was in a place that he had never been in, he'd see nothing because he would have no idea what the place looked like.

Stephen saw skyscrapers, a glance at an office building as if he was merely driving past it, a busy street. It looked like New York, but he wasn't quite sure, so he tried to peer further back until a modern building, the sleek insides of it and a glimmering logo on the side of it appeared in his mind's eye.

He gasped as he returned to reality, shaken by the letter on the building. It had been an A, the exact same one he had seen on the Avengers Compound countless times.

The sorcerer fell back onto the bed and covered his eyes with his palms. The other half of the curse potentially being an Avenger was good, but it also meant that he was going to have to deal with the fruits of their battles, namely the bruises, cuts and broken bones.

It came with the life of being a superhero, but that didn't mean he or the other one had to endure the hardships of having the pain of two people. He needed to find the person, inform them of what had happened and then try to find a cure or at least a temporary suppressor for the curse until he figured it out.

He needed to converse with the other sorcerers to see if they had any ideas.

Still slightly sleepy, he wandered towards the staircase that would take him downstairs to talk to Wong, but after going down about half the staircase, he missed a step and lost his footing, falling forward and to stop himself from face-planting on the steps, he instinctively put his hands forward to break the fall.

That turned out to be a horrible idea as his damaged hands sparked pain and were unable to stop him from falling as well, so his hands slipped under him, his wrists cracking audibly when he did until he reached the bottom and hit his nose on the cold, hard floor.

His breath was knocked out of him and once the initial shock of the fall had passed, he groaned, partially from the pain, partially from knowing that the action would be mirrored on someone. Stephen regretted not taking the Cloak with him when he left the room, but what was done was done. He lay there for a minute before forcing his uncooperative muscles to raise his aching body into a sitting position, where he leaned on one of the posts and tested his wrists and hands to see if everything seemed fine before getting up and limping onward.

__________________

Tony had just entered the building and was about to meet one of the people he was aiming to close a business deal with when he felt pain blooming in his hands once more, an annoying and alarming new development of his that he should probably have checked out before it had the chance to possibly cripple his treasured hands. Without the full use of his hands, he wouldn't be able to tinker and create.

Right as he felt the pain, there came more, striking him in random places, making him flinch back as if he had been hit. Tony grasped his nose, checking to see if it was okay when the sting reached there. He staggered towards a bench and fell down onto it, waiting for the ache to recede so he could slip into the nearest bathroom to see if he had any injuries.

He no longer knew what he hoped for, the absence of injuries or seeing random bruises on his flesh. He glanced at the mirror, gripping the sink in a hold so tight that his knuckles were white, his eyes wide and searching for answers on his skin, unable to find any. Everything seemed normal, but his body hurt in a strange, muted way that didn't make any sense.

After taking a couple of deep breaths, he released his grip, straightened his tie and put on the mask of the billionaire businessman Tony Stark to push down his doubts and fears about what was happening to him.

The genius fished his shades from his pocket that he has in there in case of any cameras with their blinding flashes coming his way and put them on to strengthen his seemingly unbothered facade, even if he was panicking inside. He needed to speak to someone as soon as he finished all his tasks of the day. Anyone would be fine, Dr. Cho, Dr. Banner, Dr. Strange. He chuckled when he realized he had just listed all the doctors in his close friendship circle, even if he could ask for advice from any of his friends.

After stepping out, he made his way to the conference room and in a short while, his meeting began, which carried on with minimal difficulties and no sudden aches.

______________________

He had barely reached Wong's chambers when it hit him. When he fell down the stairs, the pain was mirrored onto the other person, meaning that he had just hurt him with his own clumsiness.

Stephen despised these kinds of spells, they twisted the minds of the recipients without even having to actually touch the psyche. It would be the people themselves who eventually succumbed to the guilt, not being able to bear the heavy load of sharing the pain that should only be their own.

Without having to knock, the door opened to him, revealing Wong's stern eyes drilling into him with their usual intensity.

"I need your help, Wong," he spoke, his voice wavering from both the shock from earlier and the fear. He just wanted this to end, he didn't want to make anyone suffer anymore. It had only been slightly more than a day and he was already getting desperate.

An Avenger was suffering because of him. It could be anyone, Steve, Natasha, Wanda. His hands balled into fists when he reached Tony's name on the list, hoping it wouldn't be him who shared this terrible fate with him. Stephen hardly admitted it to himself, but he saw Iron Man as one of his closest friends.

"What is it, Stephen? I know you have been researching ancient tomes, but for what reason?"

"I've been cursed. Whatever injury a person gets, whenever the temperature around them rises or falls, it's reflected onto me, and vice versa"

The other sorcerer's frown deepened and he probed further, "Who are you bound to? Are your ailments also felt by them?"

"I don't know who they are and I don't know for sure if they feel my pain. I dug through so many books yesterday but I found nothing, none of the spells there quite fit my description. I'm going to look through more today, but maybe you know something?"

"Never heard of anything like that. I can help you search for answers, but you must find the other half, see if they know anything."

Stephen sighed, "I latched onto the bond, to show me the place where they were before and it displayed the Avengers Compound. I think it's an Avenger."

"Many people work there, but you won't be able to know who they are unless you find them. Do it and explain the situation, anything you know of it."

Stephen swallowed, he had no idea how to break it to the team, much less pinpoint the person. What was he going to do, tell them a sob story and hope that someone else would be willing to share theirs and he would be in the same place as before, but with a person that is relying on him to fix the mess they were in.

"Ugh, you're right. I'll go now," he agreed and summoned his cloak before creating a portal and walking through it to reach the Avengers Compound.

"Well, I hoped to do some research but here I am, knowing nothing," called Wong after him, knowing that the other man didn't hear him.

_____________

On the other side, he was greeted by the same logo he had seen in his vision, a gargantuan letter A, mocking him with the weight and glory it held.

He strode along the pathway leading to the building, feeling the dread settling in his stomach. The knowledge he could gain from here would either set him free or place an incredible weight to his shoulders.

"FRIDAY, call in a meeting for the Avengers, tell them I have something to talk to them about, not mission-related but still important."

"You got it, Dr. Strange. I think the best place for that would be the common room. I'm contacting them right now."

The cloak pulled closer to him as if comforting him, the fabric warming slightly in a mockery of human contact, which Strange appreciated. It was nice to know that he could at least rely on his magical clothes, no matter how sad that sounded even to his own ears.

Stephen pushed open the door, sat in an armchair and wrung his hands together, nervous and expectant.

________________

Tony shook his hands with a businessman, his stance confident.

They had reached an agreement fairly quickly and he believed it was mutually beneficial.

His arms and back felt a little too warm though, possibly the aftereffect of the slightly uncomfortable chairs that he had been sitting in for the whole meeting.

He parted ways with the others and glanced at his phone, delighted to see that he still had a few hours left before he was supposed to meet Hope and her R&D team about the possible partnership between Pym Technologies and Stark Industries. Pepper had already dealt with most of the deals and details, his duty was to iron out the kinks with the R&D, present SI's plans to them and see their response.

Tony had just gotten into his car and was ready to drive to a fast food place to get something to snack on when his phone alerted him of an Avengers call. It wasn't urgent or a mission, yet he groaned out loud and placed the phone on the side of the seat into its place and started the car.

"FRIDAY, what's the call about?" he asked, keeping his eyes fixed on the road, not letting the phone distract him too much.

"Dr. Strange has invited the team into the common room as he had something to talk to them about."

He stopped at a red light and quickly set up the speakers and microphones in the room for him to be able to be part of the meeting and speak his mind if possible.

The light turned green and he continued his trip, having chosen a Burger King drive-thru as his destination to buy a cheeseburger.

"So, what's the problem?" he spoke to the people in the Compound, miles away from him.

_____________________

Tony's voice rang through the speakers and Stephen relaxed by a small margin, happy to hear his friend, even if he couldn't be in the room.

"You'll have to wait a bit, the others haven't arrived just yet and I don't want anyone to have to listen to the same thing multiple times," Stephen replied, no longer fiddling with his fingers.

Right as he said it, Natasha arrived with her red hair swishing on her shoulders and spared a small smile at the sorcerer before sitting down on a couch.

"Steve won't be able to make it here right now, so you'll have to talk to him later about whatever thing you have planned here," the silence was broken by her neutral voice.

One by one, the Avengers filtered in and when all those that were able to come had arrived, the sorcerer opened his mouth and said, "During our last battle yesterday there was an... occurrence. A magical bond was created between me and someone else and I believe it is one of you."

Clint raised an eyebrow and asked, "Wait, what kind of a bond? Soulmate smooch smooch or the kind where you have to kill the other to live?"

"What? Of course not! Where did you even get those ideas from?"

Their conversation was intersected by Tony's voice coming through the speakers, "Hello. I'd like a double cheeseburger and a Capri Sun."

"Wha- Are you ordering food?"

There was a bit of silence before he spoke again, "Yes, Stephy, I am getting myself something to nibble on before I have to go to work again."

He took a deep breath and carried on, "As I was saying, there's a bond, not like Clint just described. The two sides of it feel each other's pain. So, I'm asking you, have you experienced any sudden and seemingly random pain?"

"I'm not trying to be rude, but can you tell us what kind of injuries have you had over those two days?" asked Natasha.

"I think I got blasted in the side yesterday? And today," his ears turned slightly red at the embarrassment, "I fell down the stairs, so I'm pretty sure you felt it"

There were a few murmurs between the Avengers and they all shook their heads, but Tony's whisper rang through the room clearly, "Ah, fuck."

Stephens blood ran cold. "Tony, please tell me you're not the one feeling my pain."

"You were blasted in your left side, right?"

Natasha's piercing eyes flitted through the room, from one face to another and she stated, "I think you two should talk this through. Since you've found your answers, I don't see why the rest of us should be present."

She offered a comforting smile to the sorcerer and proceeded to exit the room, taking the others along with him and leaving Stephen alone with Tony.

"As the badass spider-lady said, we have to talk. I don't want to do this over the phone though, so I'll get to the Sanctum after I'm done with the business for the day in about 4 hours."

"Okay, Tony. See you there."

Hands shaking more than usual, the sorcerer slung his hands and made a portal appear out of thin air back to the Sanctum, where Wong awaited him, wanting a thorough explanation for the curse, eager to get into research.

The hours trickled by at an unbearingly slow speed, flowing similar to honey, gooey and agonizing. Stephen kept looking at his watch and earned quite a few raised eyebrows from the other sorcerer yet he was grateful when there were no questions asked. They went through all of the books that Stephen hadn't had the opportunity to skim yet and Wong read the ones he did look through with his focused eyes that saw the details that Stephen couldn't always spot.

When it was nearing the fourth hour of waiting, the man abandoned his books and closed the one he was reading with a slam that alerted Wong. He stood and put a kettle of water onto the stove to make tea to offer to the guest that would arrive in some time.

Stephen tapped his fingers against his thigh, eyes trained on the door, waiting for Tony to push it open and arrive. He didn't know if he was excited or afraid of meeting and talking to the genius.

He had caused pain to this wonderful man who he dared to call one of his closest friends, albeit unknowingly and unwillingly, yet he had. It didn't matter that Tony had gotten hurt as well, leading to the sensation being mirrored onto him.

The tea water had just begun boiling when the door of the Sanctum was opened and the brunet poked his head through it and stepped in. As soon as Wong saw him, he greeted the hero, excused himself and took a pile of books with him, knowing when to leave the two bearded men alone.

"Hello Stephen," he greeted, his voice staying strong yet there was a slight edge to it that revealed his nervousness, "Could you explain the whole bullshit to me? I did my thinking yet I can't quite wrap my head around it without any explanations from you. Friday's scans show no magical energy surrounding me, so she couldn't pick it up, so all of this was quite the surprise for me and I usually manage to spot all magical disturbances around you and any of us, hell, I can "see" you when you cast spells," he rambled, his hands waving animatedly, although nervously.

Stephen raised his hands to signify stopping and spoke softly, "Tony, I'm only slightly less clueless about the situation than you. All I know is that we are bound to feel each other's pain and temperature changes, so to prevent that from being mirrored onto the other, we have to keep a stable temperature around us and not get injured."

"Not get injured? Dumbledore, we're superheroes, we get hurt every single battle, even if it's just bruising."

Stephen hated seeing Tony like this, desperate and guilty. He didn't want to be the person worsening the heavy load he already carried upon his strong yet human shoulders each and every day, the guilt he shouldn't even have, the weight of the sins that weren't his to carry.

"It's the only thing we can do right now. Wong and I are trying to find the solution, but there seems to be nothing of use."

"Nothing? Like nothing-nothing? Stephen, I don't want to be the one hurting you with my mistakes and recklessness! You're my friend."

For a moment, Stephen saw a tear forming in the corner of Tony's eye before the man turned around and wiped it away, afraid to show weakness in this situation. Something clenched within the sorcerer and his hands twitched, wanting to hug the man and never let go.

"I don't want to be the cause of your pain either. Right now, research is the best we can do about it," he wanted to cup his cheek but decided against it and instead gripped his shoulder to reassure the other.

"If you want, you can always use my equipment to analyze it. It won't show much, but maybe it can help a bit," he clapped his hands and raised his impenetrable walls once more, "I think we're done here. I guess I'll get going and try not to trip on the sidewalk."

"You want me to drop you off at the compound?" he offered, already lifting the hand that had the sling ring on it to create a portal.

"Sure, why not."

Stephen swung his hand around and in a moment, the portal lined with orange sparks appeared in front of Tony. He stepped through and since there was no point keeping it open, he let it close, leaving no sign of it behind.

When the man had disappeared, he let out a sigh. There were worse people to be bound to, but why did it have to be Tony? He didn't deserve to be in pain because of him.

Trying to expel the thoughts from his head, he turned around and picked up a book. Wong had returned after he sent Tony away and was writing something on the magical equivalent of a whiteboard using orange dimly glowing "marker". He had finished one of the books while Stephen was busy talking to the genius.

He glanced at the loopy writing and frowned. There wasn't anything that greatly differed from what he had discovered yesterday, but none of the things displayed there seemed quite right. Individually, they painted an accurate picture, but nothing condensed them all into one single spell.

Stephen winced at the sharp pain in his toe and groaned in frustration. He was sure that Tony had hit his pinky toe against furniture and was most likely hopping around holding his foot and cursing whatever object caused him such ire.

He really couldn't wait for the day he could be free of this curse.

____________

In Tony's opinion, pinky toes should be outlawed as their only purpose was to inconvenience him.

He would never admit it, but he was jumping around, saying, "Fuck, fuck, fuck," under his breath in a sing-song tune. Taking his shoes off had been a huge mistake.

It had been less than half an hour and he was already messing everything up. If he wasn't more careful, there was a chance his friendship with Stephen would be strained.

Tony truly wished that his old injuries wouldn't flare up and cause both him and Stephen pain. The dull ache was constantly there, but he internally prayed it was weak enough for the sorcerer to be able to ignore them. There was no need for him to know how injured and weak he was underneath the armor he hid behind like a coward.

The pulsing ache in his hands was unpleasant, but it was reassuring to know that they weren't truly injured. If he didn't have the full capabilities of his hands, he would be devastated, unable to free the thoughts from his head and bring them into the real world to help people.

It bothered him that for Stephen, that was an everyday occurrence. Tony knew that he used to work with his hands as well, the extraordinary stability of them having been a key element in his work.

Tearing himself from his thoughts, he made his way to the workshop, wanting to take more thorough scans and tests and compare them to the previous ones. It wouldn't help much with the problem, but he needed something to make him feel less helpless and pretend that it wasn't magical but scientific, an area he understood.

In a way, he was able to detect magic, he could see its existence threaded in all of space, but he couldn't understand it, couldn't harness it. Sometimes he toyed with the thought of learning it like the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj, studying magic to perhaps understand the true scientific side of it that he currently couldn't.

"FRIDAY, I know it didn't show much before, but do the scans again, find anything out of the usual. And I mean anything, there's no telling what we are working with. I'll use the medical scanners, maybe they are sensitive enough for the job.

After he had done every test and scan that would possibly yield him results, he went over the graphs and numbers himself instead of leaving them for FRIDAY to analyze. He took the information from previous tests and compared them against the ones he had at the moment and frowned when he reached a conclusion.

There was nothing out of the ordinary. Any changes from the common were in a normal range.

"Everything seems okay, Boss."

Tony breathed in and started pacing, muttering to the AI, "It's not okay, though. I'm literally feeling Stephen's pain! And if you haven't noticed yet, I really, really don't like it!"

"The phenomenon you described only happens in your head and even this can be used as a figure of speech. Your nerves in the area you speak of don't really react to the pain as there is none. Your brain reacts to the pain the body doesn't feel."

"I know that! I even tried calling Stephen and had him pinch himself so I could see if anything changed, but no. I could try doing it when I'm calmer or something, but with this bullshit, I'm never calm!" he leaned on a wall and slid down it into a sitting position and buried his head in his hands, "Why won't it just work? I don't want to hurt Stephen."

He got up and made some coffee to distract himself from the issue, to give him something to do.

_____________________

Miles away, Stephen was faced with problems as well. He thought he had come to a shaky, but an otherwise passable conclusion and had tried to come up with a spell to reverse the effects of his condition, but all he managed to do was make his right shoulder glow in colors of the rainbow that slowly shifted from color to color.

Now more pissed off than earlier, he covered up the light show and reversed its effects. It took him another quarter of an hour to do so, but he managed it without any repercussions and most importantly, pain.

This was getting increasingly annoying and he was getting frustrated. Wong's unfaltering commitment to reading books was, well, faltering and both of their stomachs were rumbling.

Stephen was writing out more magical diagrams when he was distracted from his work by an extremely loud rumble coming from the other sorcerer's direction. The man's expression stayed stoic even when Stephen raised a questioning eyebrow.

The glowing marker was thrown to the other side of the room where it faded to nonexistence and the Sorcerer Supreme let his cloak lift from his shoulders while his robes were replaced by a t-shirt and jeans.

He had already reached the doorway when he turned around and asked, "What do you want me to get you? I'm hungry and judging by that thunder rumble, you are too."

In a moment, the other sorcerer was walking towards him, now dressed in casual clothes as well and said, "You never manage to get what I want, so I'm coming with you."

"Excuse me, I've gotten you that horrible tuna melt quite a few times!"

"You never get me the right smoothie. Never. It's different every time and yet you can't manage to buy the one I like."

They exited the sanctum and were on their way to the food place they had chosen when Stephen pulled out his phone and dialed a number. It rang a few times until a familiar voice sounded from the other side, "Hi, Stephy. What's up?"

He smiled, the corners of his mouth rising, his eyes sparkling and he answered, "I'm taking a break from the research. Would you like to come and discuss the situation, perhaps tell me what you have discovered?"

"I don't see why not. You have to wait a bit, though. It does take some time to drive all the way from the compound to New York City."

"If you want to, I can pick you up right now, use a portal. I need to know where you are, though," his usual, slow stroll speeding up slightly, his steps getting longer as if he was eager to meet him.

Beside him, Wong was struggling to catch up to the newly speedy pace, his shorter legs making him fall behind. He had dignity, though, so he refused to jog beside the taller man and instead walked as fast as he could and waited for the phone call to end.

"The common room in the compound? Sure, get ready and I'll pick you up soon," he heard Stephen answer.

Wong thanked his luck that the call ended soon after that and he could catch up. Stephen had stopped and was now awkwardly looking around and bouncing on his heels.

After some more time, a cell phone rang, its annoying jingles annoying Wong. He had wanted to put the ringtone as one of Beyonce's songs for a while now but had never managed to catch the phone unlocked.

In a short while, a portal was created and Tony Stark stepped through it, put together as usual. His suit jacket covered a shirt with a funky design and sunglasses were perched on his head despite it being cloudy.

"Stephen, give me the money, I'll get the food and leave you to," he took a breath and shifted his eyes from Tony to Stephen and back, "discuss the problem."

Without a word, Stephen fished out his dollar bills and handed them to him.

"So, have you found anything using your scientific methods?” he asked, twirling an orange string of magic around his finger for emphasis.

Tony raised an eyebrow and shrugged, “There’s nothing. And I mean in a way that I can’t detect it the way I can at least get anything out of your magic. If we didn’t feel each other’s pain, I’d say that the thing didn’t exist,” he motioned to Stephen, “But tell me what kind of progress you’ve made. Are we cured yet?”

“Nope. I’ve never seen magic like that. I tried questioning the sorcerer, but there’s nothing. He doesn’t know anything about what is happening to us. Keeps telling me that I have to figure out this thing in my soul.”

“Huh,” he muttered and then pointed to a shop, “Hey, you want to get ice cream? I can get both of us a discount on Stark Raving Hazelnuts, being the inspiration to its creation and all.”  
“I can’t see why not. Wong’s unlikely to come back before he has managed to waste all of the money I gave him and even though he does get me my food, I have a suspicion that he purposefully buys the small size of everything because he has no more money left,” he agreed and began walking in the direction of the shop, quickly catching up to Tony, who had a head start.

As promised, Tony got two tubes of his ice cream and some more food to go with that.

They sat down on a park bench and dug into the food, letting the ice cream soften a bit before they shoved their spoons into them. Despite the slightly melted state of the dessert, both of them got brain freeze multiple times. The worst thing about the experience was that there wasn’t much telling which one of them actually got it and who got the pain mimicked onto them.

“If it wasn’t chalky, I’d forgive it for betraying me this way,” joked Stephen, the hand not holding the spoon pressed against his head.

Tony was in a similar position, but still shot back, “How dare you attack my ice cream in such a vile way! This is the food of the gods themselves and you blame it for a brain freeze?” he winced in pain when the other man quickly downed more of it and predictably, got another brain freeze, which was instantly replicated on him, “That’s on you, wizard.”

Stephen grinned at the man, ice cream smeared on his nose and a cold feeling in his mouth despite having finished the spoonful of ice cream. The other man was still eating his, so the cold must have come from him.

Tony reached over and wiped the ice cream off, “You got a little something there, Dr. Weird."

Stephen scrunched up his nose as a response, earning a few giggles from Tony. Looking at him, he couldn't help but smile - the man was absolutely adorable with his eyes scrunched shut and his legs kicking a little.

He could feel his cheeks warming, but since he couldn't see the genius's face reddening, he realized it was just him. He, Stephen Vincent Strange, was blushing because Tony Stark was cute.

"Doctor, are you blushing?" he teased, brown eyes sparkling with mischief, "Over me? I'm flattered."

Stephen crossed his arms and willed the blush to go away, but was unsuccessful, making him go even redder than before when Tony continued his giggling.

"I'm not blushing, I'm just a bit too hot in this weather," he tried to explain and got off the bench to throw away the empty ice cream carton to avoid looking at the man. He just wanted his embarrassment to go away, he wasn't ready to admit his feelings to the man, or himself for that matter, even though it seemed obvious that Tony wanted to flirt with him.

"Oh stop it, Stephy. Have you forgotten that I can feel it when you're feeling high temperatures?" he pointed his finger at him with a victorious grin, "You're totally blushing. I can't believe I, got you, the ultra-serious snarkster to blush by laughing at your dumb face."

"You weren't laughing, Tony. That was a full-on giggle you just had there"

To that, the man in question gasped dramatically and put his hand to his chest to show how ridiculous he found this whole situation, "Me? Giggle? Never."

They would have continued their stand-off if Wong hadn't suddenly appeared, bearing food. As Stephen had told to Tony, he had only gotten small portions for the Sorcerer Supreme. He thrust the food in Stephen's hands, slightly smirking at the beet-red blush on his cheeks and gave him back the change.

Tony threw away his now-empty ice cream container as well and clapped his hands, "I guess we are done here, it was nice meeting both of you. Thank you for giving me the secret to getting you to blush, it seems this meeting wasn't a waste after all. But then again, you make every meeting great," he winked at Stephen and went through the portal Wong had created for him to go through.

"He likes you."

Stephen choked on his food at that and once he was no longer in danger of suffocating, he sputtered, "He does not like me that way! Tony was just teasing me like a friend would."

"He may be the second most oblivious man in the world but even he seems to get that you like him."

"Wha-" he held out a hand, "the second most oblivious man? Who's the first?"

Wong just stared at him for a moment with an emotionless face and then said dryly, "You."

Stephen glared at him, grabbed the rest of his food from the other sorcerer and began to walk back toward the sanctum. He made sure to keep his pace just fast enough that Wong would have to almost jog but not fast enough for him to get annoyed and make a portal back to the sanctum and escape the embarrassment his short legs had bestowed upon him.

___________

To be honest, if the portal hadn't opened to bring him back home, he would have blushed eventually as well. It was ridiculous to even him, but yes, Tony Stark still blushed. Not often and usually it took a lot more than someone being a total dork like Stephen.

Tony truly hoped that he hadn't imagined the signs that the man liked him because he liked the sorcerer as well. It was embarrassing to admit at first, but he had a crush and he was too much of a coward to confess to him and instead settled for teasing him like a schoolboy.

He went into the and worked on a few projects, slightly distracted due to the interactions he had with Strange but still able to work well enough to complete a couple of things he needed to do. The calculations and the cold hard metal allowed him to divert his thoughts from the soft floppiness of his hair, the flowing fabric he wore and the sweet smiles he directed towards him. Once he was done for the day, he was quite tired and ready to hop into bed.

He walked into his room, shrugged off his jacket and changed out of his jeans, mourning the wonderful way they had shaped his ass after he looked into the mirror in his sweatpants. They still showed the curve that many would call sinful but it wasn't as great as it had been with the jeans.

With a sigh, he dropped onto the bed and sank into the softness of it and wrapped the sheets around him due to the cooler temperatures in the room. Despite the July heat, his living space was constantly kept at a comfortable temperature.

Tony had to toss around for a while for the ever so elusive sleep to find him. Eventually, the genius was sprawled on the bed, one finely shaped leg sticking out from under the sheets, fast asleep.

In the morning he was greeted by a slight ache in his throat and fingers from Stephen's side. When he moved from his position, pain flared in his chest and he inwardly groaned, both from the pain and the fact that he was not in a mood for opening that particular can of worms when it came to Stephen. He wasn't happy that the choice had been taken from him.

After steeling himself slightly, he turned around in the bed and almost whimpered when the pain flitted through his body. He hated it, he hated the way the arc reactor fucked up his life years after he had gotten in removed. Sometimes the place would flare up and he'd be in pain for some time. It could be hours or days - there was no way of telling when it would fade away into nothingness, only to strike back in an unspecified amount of time. He never knew when it would start again, but he was usually prepared. Unfortunately, he was out of the topical pain reliever he had created for the reactor pain

He also had pills for those flare-ups, but they were in the bathroom cabinet and it seemed impossible to get there. The dormant pain was already bad but moving made it worse, the muscles feeling like they were being pulled and stretched. There was no way he was going to walk fifteen steps into the bathroom right now, in this condition.

"FRIDAY," he said through clenched teeth, "could you call someone here to get me my pain meds from the bathroom cabinet? Tell them I said please."

He pressed his eyes shut and groaned when he moved a little. He was cold as he had pushed off the sheets in his sleep but he didn't think he was able to pull them back on.

"FRI, could you raise the temperature a little?"

It got slightly warmer in the room and he basked in the slight comfort it gave him.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Rhodey enter the room and disappear into the bathroom.

"Hey, Tones. Here are your pills. Do you need any help with the gel?" he asked, already well acquainted with the chest pains.

"Ran out." he rasped after he accepted the meds and taken a sip of water of the glass he had raised to Tony's lips. He coughed violently, his body rattling and making him whimper.

Rhodey stayed with him, tending to him and making his suffering slightly more comfortable.

___________

His chest was on fire when he woke. He gasped for air, trying to fight against the pain but soon he realized it was futile. It wasn't his pain, it was Tony's.

Stephen slowly rose from his bed and sat on the edge of it and closed his eyes. It hurt to breathe, to do anything. When the pain flared randomly he grabbed his chest and curled up, clenching his teeth.

Tony was in serious trouble.

He stood up and put on his sling ring, the cloak rushing to wrap around him and comfort him, its presence helping him ignore the pain just a bit. He located Tony and then spun his hand around to create a portal. Hunched over from the pain that coursed through him, he walked through it.

He arrived right in front of Tony's bedroom door. One hand clutching his chest, he softly knocked on the door.

To his surprise, it wasn't Tony who opened the door, but Rhodes. Stephen took a step back, having not expected to see someone.

“Strange, what are you doing here?” he asked and once his eyes landed on the hand on the sorcerer’s chest, his eyes lit up with realization, “The freak bond between you two is acting up?”

Stephen winced when the pain got worse and he rasped, “Is Tony okay? What’s going on? Why is he in so much pain?”

“Aftermath of the arc reactor. It flares up every now and then. You want to come in?”

He nodded and took a step towards the room but stumbled and fell to his knees, the pain sparking in his damaged hands when he used them to hold himself up. The burn in his chest brought tears into his eyes and through his blurred vision he saw a form on the bed moving and irritating the arc reactor site even more.

He breathed in relief when he heard Rhodes’s heavy steps approaching and helping him up. Stephen was guided towards the chair next to Tony’s bed and once the other man’s arms left him, he dropped onto it.

“God, the bond truly did a number on you two. Are you alright? Do you need painkillers?”

Though the pain hadn’t lessened, he managed to grit out, “They won’t work. Tony needs to heal before I will be able to feel any better.”

Rhodes’s eyes were somber when he spoke, “You’re going to have to wait for that. The painkillers will take a bit to kick in, so let’s hope it takes away some of your pain as well.”

Tony was laying on the bed, his eyes scrunched shut and he was staying as motionless as he could. He had opened his eyes after he had heard Stephen sit down, yet after a short while, they fluttered shut once more.

Stephen observed him, noting his pale skin and the light sheen of sweat covering it. He fought back the urge to swipe his hair away from his forehead and cup his cheek to soothe Tony. He didn’t like seeing his friend is such pain and his hand itched to hold Tony’s.

Rhodes had left the room to get some smoothie for the two men, leaving them alone.

Slowly, Tony opened his warm brown eyes and the corner of his eye quirked upwards despite his ailments. He turned his head, making more hair slip on his face and strengthening Stephen’s desire to push the hair away.

“Hey Stephy. Bit of a shit situation we have here, right?” he ground out, his voice hoarse.

Stephen felt a twinge in his chest when the man spoke, but he just smiled and let Tony talk. It was the only thing the genius could do to alleviate the boredom without hurting himself any more.

Stephen could listen to him talk for hours. He loved the rumble of Tony's voice, washing over him like waves in the sea, like the crackle of a fireplace. His words were smooth and flowing, similar to the expensive liquors in Tony's bar.

Soon, Rhodes returned with the promised smoothies and handed one of them to Stephen.

"Tony, are you up for a smoothie as well?" Rhodes asked.

When he got a weak shake of a head as a response, he smiled bitterly and handed the cup to Stephen, "Have a second one if you want to. If you don't,  
leave it in the kitchen, I'll drink it."

Stephen sipped the drink and listened to Tony and Rhodes talk, not wanting to intrude on the friendly talking between the two. He tried to ignore the flashes of pain that occurred every time Tony gestured too eagerly and for the most part, he succeeded. Once a violent cough rang through the room, he flinched, dug his nails into the fabric of his shirt and bit his lip to keep from crying out in pain.

Despite his best efforts, a small whine escaped his lips. He vaguely heard Tony whimper as well and he wished the pain would stop for the both of them.

If they weren't already dead, he would have cursed and killed all evils that caused Tony these injuries and made such a brave man suffer so greatly. He knew that the arc reactor site was an injury similar to his hands, something that would cause pain for years to come. They were reminders, showing the way they had come, the push that had driven them towards becoming heroes.

He stayed by Tony's side for hours, keeping him company even when the sharp, hot pain began to fade into a dull ache and the genius was no longer laying flat on the bed. A slight rosy tint bloomed on his cheeks, standing out from the pale flesh of his face. Tony was now sitting up and sipping on a smoothie, but he wasn't in the mood for anything else. It still hurt and they were both exhausted from the troubles the former arc reactor site gave them.

Despite the hot weather and sunny skies, Tony wanted to sleep and so he wrapped himself in his blankets and lowered the temperature in the room. He became a blanket burrito with only an unruly mop of hair sticking out from the top.

Stephen said his goodbyes and instinctively blew a kiss in the man's direction. Once he realized what he had done, he quickly retreated through the portal, his face beet-red. He cursed his little crush and what it made him do. Stephen didn't know if Tony not seeing the action made him feel relieved or upset, but there was nothing he could do about it at the moment.

The sorcerer sat down at his table and got to work, pushing down the urge to rub his chest every time the pain got worse. He hadn't worked for long, but in a short while he was already exhausted, the constant pain robbing him of all energy. Something akin to a solution was forming, but he couldn't think anymore.

Instead, he chose to plop down on the bed, the cloak wrapping around him like a blanket.

_________________

When he woke up, the pain had lessened significantly. Yet the weak ache was still there, waiting to strike up once more and make his and Tony's life a living hell.

Stephen sat down at the table and continued working on the solution for the curse. His magic made the pen write out his notes in perfect cursive, so different from the clumsiness of his real handwriting. The magical ink lit up his face in a soft orange glow, illuminating the dark crescents resting under his eyes.

He'd have to cast this spell with Tony near him, but he didn't mind it at all. Stephen liked the man a lot and the only thing he wished for was the courage to tell him that. Whenever he thought about Tony, he could feel that dumb blush spreading on his cheeks, coloring his face the annoying shade of red that the genius teased him about.

It took hours, but the counterspell was finally complete and the pen did its last strokes on the paper before disappearing into thin air. Stephen took the paper in his shaking hands and raised it up to have a good look at it. If this worked, the two of them would finally be free.

Eager to try out the spell, he spun his sling ring and ended up in front of Tony's kitchen door. He may break into houses but that didn't mean he couldn't be polite while doing so.

He knocked on the door, to which it slid open. Stephen was greeted by the sight of Tony in a three-piece suit eating cereal while perched on the kitchen island.

"Hey Stephy, what's up?" he greeted, putting the bowl down and hopping to the ground.

Stephen couldn't contain his excitement anymore and blurted out, "I finished the spell! It should fix the whole bond thing and set us free."

"That's great! Do you want some cereal?"

The sorcerer glanced at the bowl and narrowed his eyes, "What is that? Do you eat your cereal with coffee?"

"Yeah, I do. If you don't like it black, I can pour a latte in your frosted flakes if you want."

As he heard Tony's words, he felt as if he was astral projecting out of his body. This was the man he was in love with? Someone who ate his food like that?

Swinging a spoon at Stephen, he said, "Enough of my food choices, are you going to do your magic thing or not?"

He rolled his eyes and before grasping Tony's hand in a handshake, he said, "I need skin contact for it to work."

He swirled his free hand around, the strings of light lazily wrapping around them. Wonder ignited in his friend's brown eyes as they followed the magic. With a last twist of his wrist, the spell was sealed, the strings pulling taut and then snapping into shards of light.

Everything went white.

_________________  
The next thing Tony saw was a stormy sky. It was cold and there was snow around him, melting under his fingers. The constant aching of his hands had disappeared.

He sprang up to a sitting position when he realized the abnormality of it all. It was July, one of the hottest months of the year, not the middle of winter. There seemed to be nothing but snow stretching for miles, with a single tiny cabin standing in the distance.

Shivering from the cold, clad only in his three-piece suit, he stood up and tried to find Stephen. He stuffed his hands in his armpits and walked around, trying to find the man he cared about.

Tony shrugged off his snow-covered jacket, wiped it clear of any snow and wrapped it around his head and neck to keep them warm. He pulled his socks up to cover the hem of his pants and started walking faster, wanting to keep up his heart rate.

If Stephen wasn't here, he'd go to the cabin and see if there was anything he could do to contact someone to pick him up. He could possibly take apart his watch gauntlet to make a radio but for that, he'd need something to pry it open. He couldn't wear the gauntlet at the moment either, the cold metal heating up only when he used one of the weapons embedded into it.

Tony's relaxed by a small margin when he saw a shock of red fabric on the snow, the Cloak of Levitation.

"Stephen! Are you okay?" he yelled.

The form began to move, freshly fallen snow falling off his body as the sorcerer got to his knees. Confused blue eyes darted around until landing on Tony, igniting slight hope in them. The cloak shifted upwards to cover his head and wrapped itself around Stephen to keep him warm.

"Where are we, Tony? Why is it so cold in here?" he asked, teeth rattling.

"I have no idea, Stephy. Can you get your magical ring and portal us away from here?"

He took his hand out of the cloak and raised it up to begin the spell. The ring was slightly burnt from the powerful spell Stephen had just cast, but he hoped it wouldn't affect its performance.

Before he could swirl it around in a circle, a mighty roar sounded from the ground itself. A spike of ice rose up, growing in front of their eyes until the hulking mass began to move towards them.

"Ah, shit. We have an ice monster here." cursed Tony, activating his watch gauntlets, "Stephen, can you melt it or something?"

As a response, the sorcerer threw a glowing orange rope at the offender, slicing one of the spikes clean off. Yet when he tried to do it again, the rope faded out of existence, leaving only Tony to fight.

Repulsor blasts were a great help against the ice, shattering it on impact. The frozen clumps still moved and tried to reform itself but were significantly slowed down by the constant attacks. A sharp shard of ice was catapulted by the creature, embedding itself in Tony's thigh.

"Stephen, these things just keep going! Can you do anything about it?" he yelled in both frustration and pain.

Stephen kept on trying to cast spells, the glowing magic barely flickering before disappearing. His fingers had started to shiver yet he carried on with his attempts. He tried not to focus on the man he loved potentially being injured, but he couldn't help but worry.

He paused for a moment and raised a shaking finger to point at the monster, "We have to get that glowing gem and destroy it, otherwise it won't stop reforming itself."

Before he could say anything else, a bolt of ice was shot his way. The sorcerer's shield disappeared just a moment before it was launched and left him without a way to protect himself. Stephen raised his arms instinctively but dropped them in a few seconds when he had realized the lack of impact.

He opened his eyes to Tony laying on the ground, a chunk of ice protruding from his shoulder. It was odd to see the man obviously in pain and for him to not feel it, to have his flesh be free of ache. He saw Tony getting up and ready to fight from the corner of his eye, but he had his attention on the vile being.

In a flash of rage, he summoned all of his power and sent a sword of light hurtling towards the source of the monster's power. It shattered upon contact, letting out an ear-splitting ringing like an enormous gong.

Stephen attempted to protect himself and Tony from the shards of ice that followed the explosion, but this time the spell didn't work at all, leaving the Cloak to defend them.

"Is it dead?" asked Tony through clenched teeth, clutching his injured shoulder.

"Should be. Tony, you need that shoulder looked at when we get back," he said right before swirling his hand to create a portal.

Nothing happened.

"Is there something wrong with your magic? Is it too cold in here?" he asked and then turned to the house in the distance, "Let's get to that cabin, warm up a little and then you can try again, okay?"

The sorcerer nodded and they began to make their way towards the small house. Tony shivered, hands stuffed into his armpits for warmth and blood staining his once-pristine shirt. Stephen was faring slightly better, the cloak's embrace keeping him from the cold.

They plodded along, the snow getting stuck on their legs and going into their shoes and melting, creating wet and cold patches on the fabric they wore. Tony's nose was steadily getting redder and beginning to get runny, causing him to wipe it constantly. There was silence between them, there was nothing to talk about when getting to safety was the only thing on their minds.

Once they reached the wooden door of the house, Tony used all of his remaining strength to pry it open despite Stephen's protests.

The door swung open and the genius collapsed into his arms. Stephen's embrace was gentle, yet the other man still winced in pain. They stepped through the door and closed it behind them. He helped Tony onto a nearby cot and left to look for any medical supplies to tend to his wound.

It was still cold inside, but there was no wind or snow to cool them down more. Once he had wrapped the wound, Stephen started a fire with the small amount of firewood still left in the house.

When the flickering light filled the room, the injured man shuffled closer to the source of warmth. The scratchy blanket his body was covered in provided some escape from the chill, but it wasn't enough.

He stared at the fire, his brown eyes painted golden by its glow and said, "We're free from the bond, yet we are stuck in the middle of nowhere while there is snow all around us despite it being July. And since you haven't opened a portal to take us back, your magic is gone or weakened." he turned his head and gazed at the sorcerer, "Stephen, what the hell happened?"

Stephen sat on the floor beside him and put a hesitant hand on Tony's uninjured shoulder, "I don't know. I may be the Sorcerer Supreme, but there are still countless things I don't know about magic. But trust me, if I could have stopped this all from happening, I would have. I can't bear seeing you in pain, you're too important to me."

Tony's frown softened and stretched into a loving smile before snapping back to serious.

"We need a way to contact someone to come and pick us up. You can stay here and keep an eye on the fire. I'll look for something we can use." he stood up and let the blanket fall on the floor.

Stephen opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again. He heard the genius rattle around in the other room and swearing loudly. There was no telling if he had gotten hurt as the connection between him and Tony had been severed. In a way, he missed it, missed being together. He didn't want to go back to just being good friends, he wanted more.

He wiped away the stray tear that had gathered in the corner of his eye and concentrated on creating a portal again. Not a single spark appeared, no matter how hard he tried. Frustrated, he clenched his shaking hands and hid them inside the cloak.

After a while, Tony reappeared, holding a scratched-up walkie-talkie and some more electronic scrap. He placed them down, letting them clatter on the ground and adding his own suit gauntlets to the mix.

He sat on the ground and got to work, forgetting the blanket beside him completely. Tony only realized how cold he was when the Cloak floated onto his shoulders as if hugging him.

"Do you need any help with it?" came Stephen's soft voice from beside him.

He looked up, surprised at the interruption, but his shocked face stretched into a comfortable smile, "Yeah, I could really use a hand. Could you hold this part down so it doesn't fling up?"

Stephen obliged and placed his hand exactly where Tony guided him and kept it there. He couldn't help but stare at the mechanic, at concentrated expression and the way his tongue stuck out just a little bit.

After he was done, the sorcerer was given another simple task to do and then another. Tony didn't make him do anything that the shaking of his hands could ruin and he was grateful for that. He didn't want to be the reason their scrap heap of a communications device was destroyed.

Being this close, he noticed the little details about the man he loved. Stephen saw the tiny freckles on his cheeks, the scratches and burn marks on his arms. Tony's hands were worn from work, covered in calluses. They were almost as steady as Stephen's had been before the accident. He saw the stray gray hairs sprouting in between the black strands, giving the man a more distinguished appearance. The doctor didn't doubt there was more gray hiding under the hair dye and he hoped that one day the proud man would be comfortable enough to let it show.

It took some time, but finally Tony leaned back after being hunched over the device. He turned it on to test it and judging by his face, he was happy with it. The tiny energy source that used to power the gauntlets was now used to power the machine in front of them.

The mechanic tuned it to a certain frequency and began tapping out a message in Morse.

"Who are you trying to contact with it?" asked Stephen, shifting into a more comfortable position to listen to Tony.

"FRIDAY. She's always monitoring this exact frequency. After I was kidnapped in Afghanistan, I wanted a way to be found, so I chose a frequency and a message to send as a code. Once she gets the message she will find us and hopefully send us something to pick us up."

"Why the morse code, though?"

"The microphone is busted and I have no time or patience to fix it right now. Morse code is going to have to do."

It took more than a minute of Tony tapping out the message before he stopped and switched a button on the radio to receive instead of transmitting. For some time, nothing could be heard from it.

Stephen could see the genius's finger hovering over the switch once again, but right before he could, a message could be heard. It was in morse, so Stephen couldn't understand exactly what was being said. He could see Tony mouthing out the letters, the mechanic's eyes lighting up more with every single letter or number.

He turned to Stephen, "Good news, FRIDAY heard us and is trying to locate us to send someone to rescue us. She'll contact us as soon as she knows exactly where we are." his talking was interjected by yet another transmission from the AI.

"That was fast," after listening to the morse code, he continued, "The rescue is on its way and should reach us in 2 to 3 hours."

Stephen let out a deep breath. Everything was going to be okay.

__________

"I don't think this firewood is going to last us three hours. It's almost completely burnt away and it will get colder as soon as it's gone. Is there anything else we could use?" Stephen asked, his brows knitted together

Tony crossed his arms and shook his head, "The house is almost completely empty, save for the metal furniture, so we can't burn anything," suddenly his eyes lit up with realization and slight mischief, "We could share body heat to stave off the cold."

As soon as he said it, Stephen's cheeks turned the wonderful shade of pink Tony loved so much. He tucked the blanket a little tighter around himself and shifted a bit closer to the genius, perhaps unknowingly.

"Uh, of course, that's really smart of you, Tony. We can just get on the bed and get really close and," he swallowed, trying not to look at the other, "cuddle."

Tony placed both of his hands on the man's shoulders, wordlessly urging Stephen to look at him, "It can be just a cuddle for warmth. Nothing wrong with that, there doesn't have to be any feelings involved if you don't want them."

"I do want them," he blurted out.

"Alright, I’m okay with tha- wait, what did you say?”

"I want the feelings Tony. I like you, a lot. I’ve just never had the courage to tell you.”

Tony's cheeks took a slight pink hue at the words and his face broke up in a radiant smile. He moved his hands to cup Stephen's and he moved closer, so close that he could see every detail on the sorcerer's face.

"I like you too. To be honest, I noticed you crushing on me, but I wanted you to figure out everything for yourself. I hope you aren't too mad at me,"

Now seemingly more confident, Stephen said, "You know, we were supposed to be cuddling, not having deep conversations about the specifics of our relationship while it's slowly getting colder around us."

Without another word, he stood up and made himself comfortable on the tiny bed, facing the wall but leaving some space behind him.

For Tony, that would have been the perfect opportunity to spoon him, but for the first time cuddling, he wanted to see his face. He told the doctor to turn around and soon he found himself staring at his loved one's face.

"Oh," Stephen let out a breathy sigh, "You are really close. And you run warm, so now I'm warm."

Tony giggled at that, eyes scrunching shut and head moving forward a little bit. It was enough that the noses of the two men touched. The genius stopped suddenly was greeted with the sight of Stephen's clear blue eyes staring at him, the sorcerer's pupils blown wide.

"Anyone ever tell you that your eyes are really pretty? I mean, that shade of blue is hard to find and yet here you are, flaunting your beautiful eyes around."

"I was just about to tell the same about yours, your stupid coffee-colored eyes that make me give them color names,"

Tony could feel his blush deepening and his heart beating faster. There were butterflies in his stomach and his hands twitched, wanting to twine themselves in Stephen's hair.

"Stephy, I swear if you don't stop being such a wonderful and smart person, I'm going to do something dumb like kiss you. I'd really like to keep that for when we are not under this ratty blanket and being threatened by hypothermia."

He laughed and said, "I wouldn't mind a smooch on the cheek between all the misery we have had."

Tony turned his head and planted a soft, brief kiss on Stephen's face before quickly shifting away. He wanted to see his reaction and whether or not he had to apologize for what he had just done. His arms were still wrapped around the doctor and he didn't want it to change.

Stephen's face looked star-struck, his mouth slightly open. He let out a whine in protest when Tony moved away and pulled the genius closer. He put his head on Tony's shoulder and closed his eyes.

Tony was content. The kiss had been a risque move, but it had worked out, at least he thought it had.

"Stephy, are we dating now?" he asked, voice wavering slightly, so different from his previous confidence.

A mumble sounded from his shoulder, "Yes. At least I would like to think that."

He let out a sigh of relief and lowered his head to mimic the sorcerer. Tony stayed that way for a while, just listening to his partner's even breathing. Soon, he closed his eyes as well and drifted off, comforted by his boyfriend's warmth.

_______________

Stephen was woken by a sound coming from outside. He raised his head from the warm pillow to make sense of the surroundings and found himself in a dusty old house.

He tried to move, but something was stopping him. Glancing down, he saw that he wasn't lying against a warm pillow but instead against his boyfriend's form. The genius's strong arms were holding onto him like he was a teddy bear and he could feel the roughness of Tony's beard on his neck. When Stephen moved, his partner let out a noise of displeasure and pulled him closer.

"Tony," he whispered, "wake up."

He mumbled something sleepily before his eyes snapped open and he took his arms away from around Stephen. His gaze began darting around the room before settling on the sorcerer. He relaxed by a margin before the sound came from outside and his muscles were once again wound tight, his mouth in a frown and eyebrows knitted together.

He stood up, elegant and lithe as a jungle cat despite having been asleep mere moments ago. Tony walked to the door and was about to open it, but before he did, he turned around and said, "I really hope it's our rescue, not the return of the ice monster."

"I really hope so, it's really cold in here and I'd rather not stay here for any longer," he replied with a slight smile, mourning the wonderful warmth Tony had provided him. He shivered and let his cloak wrap around him.

Calloused hands wrapped around the door handle and opened it, revealing the glimmering white of the snow on the other side. It seemed barren of a creature waiting to attack and he walked further until he was out of Stephen's sight.

After waiting a bit, the sorcerer decided to follow him to see if everything was okay. He glanced outside, only to see a Quinjet preparing to land and Tony standing near it, waving at it. Stephen let out a breath in relief and started a light jog towards the plane. Halfway there, the cloak lifted him up and carried him inside.

Once the plane took off, a hot cup of tea was shoved in his hands and he raised it to his lips. A big blanket was placed onto his and Tony's shoulders, offering them the warmth they had lost after cuddling.

The other avengers asked questions, but after answering them all they left the two alone, basking in each others' warmth.

_____________________

It had been a few days since their brief vacation in the ice monster's territory and things were looking up. Stephen's magic was slowly returning and despite being unhappy at the current weakness of his skills, he was glad he wouldn't have to live without the mystic arts.

They were outside on their first date, eating hot dogs on a park bench and laughing about silly jokes. A pink blush had bloomed on both of their faces.

"Tony, I've wanted to tell you this for a while," he paused and waited for his boyfriend to stop giggling over ducks wearing socks, "During the time we were bonded, when we felt each others' pain, I thought it would be what destroyed our friendship. I thought either of us would have rejected the other's company after some time, not being able to look at someone they caused pain. I just wanted to say that I'm glad everything worked out."

A soft smile stretched on the genius's face and he took Stephen's hands into his, cupping both of them together. He raised them to his lips and kissed both hands at once.

"I'm glad everything worked out as well. It's nice, having someone who loves you and understands your burdens. You're everything I could have ever wished for and more."

After saying those words, Tony leaned in and kissed Stephen, letting go of his hands and twining his fingers in the sorcerer's silver-streaked hair. Stephen could feel the scratch of Tony's immaculate goatee and the softness of his lips. The genius's other hand was on his cheek, guiding him slightly.

Soon, they broke the kiss, leaving them staring into each others' eyes. Endless blue met deep brown, fitting together perfectly.

Everything was going to work out. There would be hardships on their journey, but they could both rely on their partner to guide them.

Their bond of pain might have been broken, but their bond of love would be eternal.

Art by the wonderful untitledtea, it was great working with you!


End file.
